2025 Toyota GR Corolla Tested: Automatically in Love

• The Toyota GR Corolla adds a new automatic transmission and a slight torque bump for 2025.
• We find out if letting the car shift gears on its own changes the experience, for better or worse.
• Strangely, the automatic car was slower than a manual version we tested.

The lateral acceleration and braking numbers don't stick out too much; those figures come very close to the ones we recorded in the 2024 GR Corolla Circuit Edition with the six-speed manual transmission (0.97 g; 111 feet from 60 mph to 0). That makes sense, considering that the two vehicles both wear the same Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires and there haven't been any suspension or chassis updates between the model years.

But what did surprise us was the difference in acceleration numbers. The GR Corolla with the manual was quicker to both 60 mph (5.4 seconds vs. 5.9 seconds) and in the quarter mile (13.7 seconds at 99.9 mph vs. 14.1 seconds at 100.4 mph), giving it an advantage of about half a second in both cases. What's weird is that the automatic car is heavier, so you'd think it'd be slower. And don't forget: The 2025 model makes more torque as well.

It's very rare to test automatic and manual transmission versions of a vehicle and have the latter turn out to be quicker. In fact, the last example we could dig up was another Toyota: The GR86 turned out to be nearly a second quicker from 0 to 60 mph with the six-speed manual (6.0 seconds) than the six-speed automatic (6.9 seconds).

The GR Corolla's eight-speed automatic is supposed to be better suited for this application than the six-speed unit in the GR86, but our testing doesn't really prove that. Our best acceleration runs were made using launch control with the torque split set at 50:50, and playing with the torque setting (including the 30:70 split that was quickest with the manual) didn't improve the times.

Senior vehicle test editor Kurt Niebuhr noted that it felt like the transmission was really bogging down off the line even with launch control activated. "You get a mildly quicker rollaway, but nothing remotely similar to almost every other car with a launch control," Niebuhr said. "It feels lazy, almost like it's starting in second gear." Perhaps a dual-clutch unit like the one in the Hyundai Elantra N would help give the GR Corolla more initial impetus.

Thankfully, it's still an absolute riot

"The handling character of the GR Corolla isn't compromised by the automatic transmission, and that's great," Niebuhr said. "The steering is direct and the GR moves into corners with confidence."

The Corolla's steering still feels very precise and reacts very quickly, allowing you to get the car's nose pitched down into corners with ease. And the hatchback's perfectly sized steering wheel delivers excellent feedback. When pushed really hard, the car feels incredibly stable, and though it does default to understeer, it feels correctable and unsurprising. And getting it to slide around on our circuit is still among the most fun experiences we can remember out there.

When left to its own devices, the automatic transmission will hold gears up to near redline when you put the vehicle in its track setting, but it does still feel a beat behind when it comes to shift logic. There were a few corners where the vehicle would upshift a hair too early, and with a low-displacement, high-compression engine like this, it really leaves you wanting for more torque on exit. Being at a specific spot in the powerband is essentially for linking corners together in a more comprehensive fashion, and that makes grabbing the paddles and handling the shifting yourself the way to get the most out of the automatic versions of the car.

To get the most out of the car full-stop? Get the manual. It's quicker, more engaging and every bit as fun, making that the winning combination.